The Contemporary Austin and GrayDUCK Gallery Present The Only Knowledge Worth Possessing

The culminating exhibition of The Contemporary Austin's Crit Group program, The Only Knowledge Worth Possessing will be on view August 14 - September 13, 2015

The Contemporary Austin and grayDUCK Gallery are pleased to present the exhibition The Only Knowledge Worth Possessing, featuring work by nine compelling artists who participated in the museum's Crit Group 2015--a program that combines group critique with professional development to advance the complete artistic practice of established and emerging local artists. The opening reception will take place August 14, 2015, 7-10 p.m. at grayDUCK Gallery, 2213 E. Cesar Chavez St., Austin, TX, 78702, and the exhibition will remain on view through September 13. The opening reception will include live performance.

The culmination of the six-month Crit Group program,The Only Knowledge Worth Possessing includes work in video, sculpture, photography, performance, painting, drawing, and expanded artistic practices such as indexing and poetry by the nine artists who participated in Crit Group 2015. Featured artists are Sarah Hill, Ben Jurgensen, R. Eric McMaster, Katie Rose Pipkin, Rebecca Rothfus Harrell, Bobby Scheidemann, Pat Snow, Sherwin Tibayan, and Glenn Twiggs. The exhibition title, generated via a set of algorithms and web spiders crafted by Katie Rose Pipkin in her artwork headwaters (2015), speaks to the heterogeneity of each of the participating artist's practices and media. By turns laugh-out-loud funny and coolly cerebral, the works in The Only Knowledge Worth Possessing explore the complicated nature of authorship and craft; the regimentation, regulation and surveillance of bodies; and the politics of digital processes and the natural world. More information can be found at thecontemporaryaustin.org and at grayduckgallery.com.

CRIT GROUP AT THE CONTEMPORARY AUSTINLaunched in January 2014, Crit Group at The Contemporary Austin brings together emerging and established Austin artists to support the work they do when they are not making art and to facilitate the growth of their complete artistic practice. Selected through an application process, participating artists attend monthly professional development sessions on topics including writing effective artist statements, bios, and proposals; successfully documenting art; applying for grants and residencies; and what to expect from curators and art dealers. Organized studio and gallery visits, group critique, and a culminating, off-site summer exhibition round out the program. Crit Group 2015 was co-facilitated by Andy Campbell and Sarah Bancroft, who also co-curated The Only Knowledge Worth Possessing. Applications for Crit Group 2016 will open late fall 2015 with a deadline of December 1, 2015.

Offered free to selected artists, Crit Group is an extension of The Contemporary Austin's well-established Art School, an institution with a more than 50-year history of offering professional art instruction to students from ages 3 through adult. The launch of Crit Group extended the reach of the Art School and The Contemporary Austin's vibrant educational initiatives, providing valuable continuing education experiences for professional artists and strengthening the contemporary art community as a whole.